I've played both the 100watt protube twin and the '65 reissue twin, and as far as the sound goes, from what i was able to gather in the hectic guitar center settings they both played to my liking, tons of clean headroom, smooth reverb, and all that. but when i was playing them i wasn't really looking for differences in sound, because i wasn't even considering buying one yet, but now that i want one, i'm trying to decide between the two.

now all you experienced amp-heads, before i head into guitar center to try the two ampts out, what are some problems/benefits and main difference (between wattage and effects loop etc) between these two amps. which ones have proven more reliable? a cooler overdrive?

First off, there is no drive channel on the Twin Reverb. It is all about clean headroom. Put simply, you can't get the tone to break up at all at normal to loud volume setting. I have never dimed my '65 reissue TR (kid of lame I know) but I am not even sure it would break up then.

The other amp has an independent drive channel. I have never played through one so I have no idea what it sounds like, I imagine the clean channel is close to that of the TR. No idea what the drive channel sounds like but I have never loved the drive channels of any Fenders I have heard.

Reliability has never been an issue for my TR.

Personally, I would go with the TR and use nice drive pedals for breaking up the signal. In the end, whichever amp gets your rocks off, that's the one to buy. Good luck.

One thing to consider, which is why I bought the Deluxe Reverb instead of the '65 reissue (which was my dream amp) was that the thing weighs a ton and it sounds much better when cranked almost all the way up, so unless you're doing big gigs, it was overkill for my needs. Just something to think about...

"The only funeral you should ever try to interrupt is your own, and that should be a full-time job." -Kinky Friedman